Update on available courses
A reminder of what Tamar Print Workshop has in store at the beginning of 2013.
My weekly classes are thriving with only a few spaces to offer at present. The Wednesday afternoon class has room for one or 2 more people, the Wednesday evening also, but the Thursday morning class is, as always, oversubscribed with people queuing for places.
Here is a breakdown of the longer workshops and courses that are taking place in January, February and March. There are still spaces on all of them.
I AM RUNNING GENERAL WORKSHOPS INCLUDING ETCHING FOR ALL (BEGINNERS AND EXPERIENCED) ON:-
26TH AND 27TH JANUARY,
23RD AND 24TH FEBRUARY
AND 23RD AND 24TH MARCH.
You can come to any of the general workshops to develop your work using the medium of your choice.
However, these workshops are interspersed with more specific courses where you can learn other techniques, and I would recommend that if you are new to any of the techniques (apart from etching), you book in for the “specialist” course first. After that, of course, there’s nothing to stop you working with these other techniques at any of the general workshops. The mix of activities results in a fascinating experience for participants!
The first course of the new year is on SATURDAY 19TH AND SUNDAY 20TH JANUARY. We’ll be exploring (for want of a better word – I know it’s a bit clichéd these days) the techniques of carborundum and collagraph. The carborundum technique involves the use of a very fine gritty substance mixed with PVA which can be applied to a variety of surfaces, e.g. card, ply, metal. It is a wonderfully versatile medium which results in exciting and rich imagery, lending itself to both black and white, and colour. It is probably the closest thing to painting (bar monotype) and allows for great spontaneity, immediacy and expression. It is relatively controllable and so it can be adapted to many different ideas and ways of working.
The collagraph technique is more than often used in conjunction with carborundum and in fact the two are often lumped together as a collagraphic technique. Think of making a collage, and then think of sealing it with a thin layer of glue, then imagine rubbing ink into the textured surfaces, wiping off the excess and taking a print on damp paper (as in etching). It’s potentially the most inventive (and it’s the least technical, bar monotype again!) of all the printmaking techniques, and the most unpredictable, though as with everything, once you get the hang of it, it becomes more “obedient”. (If that’s what you want!) Again, there is a mass of potential in terms of mark making and printing both in colour and black and white. (For examples type the relevant terms into Google Images.)
I envisaged the BEGINNERS COURSE on 9TH AND 10TH FEBRUARY as an introduction to traditional etching. But I am happy to turn this into a “Beginners Course of your Choice” for those who have done very little or no printmaking at all in the past…we’ll leave this open. The course was initially for people who might prefer to be with other beginners, rather than join a General group to learn about etching (as mentioned above).
Then, last but not least, WORKING WITH COLOUR USING ETCHING, COLLAGRAPH, and OTHER TECHNIQUES: 8TH, 9TH, 10TH MARCH (FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY). I would suggest that this is probably the only course that I am running aimed at the slightly more experienced printmaker. One of the main areas I intend to cover is the principle of the 3 plate colour etching. I say “principle” because sometimes it is difficult to complete a complicated 3 plate etching in such a short period of time. I will also introduce or consolidate the many ways of using colour on single plates including the “dolly” method, and the viscosity method*. We can explore these using collagraph plates too as collagraphs are quicker to make than etchings and will enable more experimentation with ways of applying colour. Bring in some old etching plates and/or collagraphs that you can develop or re-work. We can also try the viscosity technique with monotype.
(* Stanley William Hayter developed the “Viscosity method” at his famous studio, Atelier 17 (located first in Paris between the wars and then later in New York). The technique involves rolling a thicker, more viscous ink over a thinner ink. The thicker ink is rejected and adheres only to the surface surrounding the first ink. Sounds simple? It achieves surprising and sometimes quite stunning results.)
Don’t forget to look at the website – http://www.marygillett.co.uk/workshops.php for a downloadable booking form, and more dates and times, (including Spring and Summer 5 day courses).!
